Improvement in machinery for feeding wire to machines



UNITED STATEs PATENT OFFICE. i

EDWARD G. PARKHURST, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE PRATT St WHITNEY COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINERY FOR FEEDING WIRE TO MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 118,481, dated August 29, 1871.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD G. PARKHURsT, of Hartford, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mechanism for Feeding Vire to a Machine; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, whereby a person skilled in the art can make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

Like letters in the figures indicate the same parts.

My invention consists in the combination and arrangement of well-known mechanical devices, by which a wire is fed automatically, by definite and determined lengths, to a machine which opcrates upon and cuts off a certain length each time the wire is advanced, and by which it is held firmly and securely while it is operated upon by the machine. Its object is to advance the wire uniformly and regularly at each movement of the machine with the least expenditureof labor, and to provide an automatic holder, which shall gripe the wire at the proper instant and hold it securely.

Figure 1, Sheet l, is a top view of my improved wire-feeding apparatus. Fig. 2 is a view of the piece fitting on Fig. l at .fr y. Fig. 3 is a side view of the standard for supporting the end of the rack-bar and the wire. Fig. 4, Sheet 2, is a longitudinal section of my impro ved apparatus. Fig. 5 is a longitudinal, and Fig. 6 is a cross-section of a modication ofthe part a b, as shown in Fig. 4. Fig. 7 shows additional views of the pawla and pin o', shown in Figs. 5 and 6.

A is part of the frame of the machine. B B are boxes attached to the frame A, to form bearings for the revolving spindle D. C is a hollow cylinder or shell attached to B, and containing the working parts of the griping mechanism. D is a hollowrevolving spindle, running in the boxes B and B. E is a cap, screwed onto the spindle D. F is a bar, secured to the frame A at one end. It carries the sliding rack let into its upper side. G is a standard, supporting the further end of the bar F, and also the wire W. The standard G, and also the bar F and wire W, are represented as broken to shorten them. They may be of any convenient length. H is a box, movable on the bar F, and is operated by the lever J. I is also a box, sliding on the bar F, and carries a pawl for catching' into the rack, and also a device for holding against the bar F by a pawl or by friction. K is an arm, attached to the frame of the machine to act as a fulcrum for the lever J. L is a rack, sliding in a rectangular groove in the upper side of the bar F. Within the cap E are the circular split jaws c for griping the wire. They are inserted in the spindle I) before screwing on the cap E, and have an inclined surface working against the interior surface of the cap,

so that when they are pushed forward they are contracted by the wedge-shaped aperture and firmly gripe the wire W. These jaws are made to spring outward, so that they have a constant tendency to press backward by means of the inclined front surface. Jaws having difterei-it-sized apertures are also used for different-sized wires. The parts for working the jaws are contained in the shell C. A long hollow plungerd, extends through the spindle D and presses against the jaws c. At the rear end of this plunger are two levers, e e', which have short arms working in sockets in the plunger el, and longer arms extending forward nearly parallel to it. These arms of the levers are forced out from the axis and allowed to return again under the influence of the expanding jaws c, by means of the inclined-faced annular collar j', which moves backward and forward looseon the spindle I). Motion is communicated to it by means of the sliding-box H, which has a projection, g, extending upward through an opening in the shell C, and entering a circular groove cut in the circumference of the collar f. The box H receives its motion by means of the hand-lever J, which is pivoted onto the box H and works in a ring, m, attached to the arm K, as a fulcrum. In order to alter the position of the jaws in the inclined inner surface of E to gripe a slightly larger or smaller wire, the annular block j, carrying the pivots of the levers e and c, can be advanced or withdrawn along a screw-thread on the rear end of the spin dle D, so as to slightly alter the position of the levers to give a greater or lesser throw to the plunger d. The block j can be set in its position by the clamp-nuts k and I. The rack L has a reciprocating motion back and forth given to it by the movement of the box H. L and H are connected by the part h working in the slot i in such a manner that H moves a short distance before communicating motion to L. This is for the purpose of allowing the collar f to be moved first to unclasp the wire from the jaws before it is moved forward by the rack L. The sliding box I has a standard, a, through which the wire W passes, and to which it is held by a collar and set-screw, or some similar device. This standard a' also carries the pawl a working in the teeth of the rack L. This pawl is pressed into the rack by the spring s.` Passing through the pawl is a pin, o, for a purpose hereinafter described. On the under side of the box I there is a projection, I), corresponding to a above, in which is a pawl, p, pressed into a iine rack in the bottom of the bar Fby the spring t. This pawl has thc pin q pass ing through it. These pins o and q are for the purpose of throwing the pawls out of gear. This is done by turning the cam o around the box I, (see Fig. 2,) so that the pins slide up the inclined surfaces and raise the pawls. A modification of the last-described parts is shown in Figs. 5, 6, and 7. The upper pawl a is released from the rack by pressing in the pin o', which moves the inclined surface of a out of the nick in o and raises the pawl. In place of the lower pawl p and the fine rack on F a friction-plug, pf, is used, which simply presses on the bottom of the bar F with a force regulated by the screw a and Spring t.

The operation of my invention is as follows: The end of a wire is passed through the apertures in the top of the standards G and a, and then through the tube l and jaws c. The pawls a and p are raised, and the box I moved as far as possible to the left. The collar is then clamped to the wire next to a and the pawls loosened. 0n moving the sliding box H to the left from the position shown in the drawing it moves free until the part h strikes the end of the slot i, when it carries the rack with it and pushes it through the box I, which is retained in its position by the pawl p on the plug p. When the collar freaches and passes under the levers @and e the arms are raised and the plunger d pushed forward, thereby firmly clasping the wire in the jaws c. When the sliding box H is moved to the right it first releases the levers e and e', and after the motion lost by the slot t' is taken up it moves the rack L, and with it the box I and the wire W, a distance regulated by a gauge or otherwise. On reversing again the movement of H the rack is returned and the wire griped Vby the jaws, as before described. The box I thus progresses along the rack until it reaches the end of the shell C, when it is returned to commence again, as before` described. When the sliding box I has moved to its extreme position to the right the pin o (see Fig. 5) comes in contact with the end of the shell C and raises the pawl a so that the box can advance no further by the action of the rack.

What I claim as my invention isl. The combination of the device h t' or its equivalent with the releasing mechanism el e f g, the advancing mechanism L I, and the interior parts of I, so that the wire is unclasped before it is moved and clasped before the rack is pushed back, substantially as described.

2. The construction and arrangement of the sliding box I and its interior parts, as shown in Figs. 5, 6, and 7 and described herein.

3. The combination of the levers e' e', the collar f, the plunger d, and the jaws c, substantially as described.

4. The adjustable block j, in combination with the levers e e and the plunger d, for the purpose of altering the position of the levers e e', substantially as described.

5. The reciprocating rack L, in combination with the sliding block I and its interior mechanism, constructed and arranged substantially as described.

E. Gr. PARKHURST.

Witnesses:

JNO.. R. REYNOLDS, Trino. G. ELLIS. 

